GURPS - Kabanak

Begins with Taylor finding a young boy (perhaps 12) dead in front of his warehouse. His hands were severed and his mouth was gagged.

Taylor found a button belonging to a Turpin made man at the scene of the crime (behind a bakery).

The party spoke with Constable Wallace Corner, who indicated that such an incident would cause more violence between the families, as the boy is a child of some significance within the Gazelle family in the south harbor.

Corner tells the party that he will do what he can to delay informing the Gazelles while they figure out how to handle the situation.

Lindsey seeks out Walter Murphy, head of the Murphy crime family — they are protectors of the Turpins. He is unwilling to get his family involved over a “Turpin hot head.”

Malk seeks out Arthur Turpin, a Turpin family lieutenant, who tells him they will check with all the family members and make sure they are in possession of their buttons.

The party goes to the Pig in a Poke Tavern to question any potential witnesses. They meet Merchant Winston, who actually saw the attack from his inn window. He describes the assailant as a tall man, perhaps a head taller than average, with leather pants and a black hooded cloak. He stood on the boys arms and hacked his hands off with a hatchet. After the attack, he walked (strangely silently) down the alley way to the street.

Winston said he tried to give the information to a Constable Mylan, but Mylan seemed uninterested in hearing any accounts of the evening’s crime.

The party is then again met by Arthur Turpin, who says he may have found a suspect, because Zander Turpin heard word that Arthur was checking button and left town with a horse, saddlebags and a bedroll.

The party meets with his abandoned wife, Abigale Turpin, to find out her husband’s whereabouts. She is unwilling to give up the information as she knows the Gazelle family and the Turpin lieutenants will want somebody to take the hit for the murder to avoid an open street war.

After certain assurances (including safe passage aboard Taylor Green’s ship) she tells the party to head out of town, and she will send a messenger with the location of her husband.